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Digital SLR camera bodies can be converted to Infrared by removing the internal hot mirror (Infrared Blocking) and replacing it with a Visible Light Blocking Filter! The camera can then shoot Infrared as it shot Visible! The internal focusing can also be adjusted to compensate for the focus shift required by Infrared! There are several companies that do this conversion. The 2 best known are LDP (www.maxmax.com) and LifePixel (www.lifepixel.com) When you convert a SLR for Infrared you then have the capability of using all of your lenses! The costs for this service will run between $300 and $500.

The new Micro 4/3 cameras on the market like the Olympus E-P1 PEN system are mirror less DSLR systems that use an electronic view finder. They are amazing camera systems at 12 mpix and are great conversion cameras. They have a complete range of changable lenses.

Digital Point & Shoot cameras can also be converted to Infrared by removing the internal hot mirror (Infrared Blocking) and replacing it with a Visible Light Blocking Filter! The camera can then shoot Infrared as it shot Visible! The internal focusing can also be adjusted to compensate for the focus shift required by Infrared! The costs for this service will run between $250 and $300. This can be a low cost alternative to getting into Infrared photography plus having a small Infrared Point & Shoot in your car will mean that you will ALWAYS have one handy! Many of the new cameras on the market like the Canon G9 have the same control and capabilities of many SLR’s!

Canon 5D

My first IR camera was a Canon 5D FULL FRAME 12.8 megapixel camera body that is just incredible for Infrared. It uses the full range of Canon L Glass lenses and creates STUNNING infrared Images! Of all of my lenses I find that the one I use the most is the Canon 17-40L. I also use (canon) 90mm TS/E, 100-400L/IS, 400 DO/IS and a 70-200L. They all work great. One lens that I have that doesn't work for Infrared is the 24-70L which has very bad spot flairs.

Canon G9

The Canon G9 point and shoot is 12.1 megapixels and has all of the exposure modes, RAW image and the Digic III processor. It can be converted to 715nm by LDP and generates STUNNING Infrared and Faux Infrared images. It is Image Stabilized and the lens ranges from 35mm to 210mm. I find that I use the G9 80% of the time due to its small size and ease of use! It has a full range of accessories including filters, WIDE ANGLE and TELECONVERTER lenses. There are some REALLY good add on accessories for the G9. Check out the Grip extension and the Remote Shutter Adapter from Richard Franiec at: http://kleptography.com/rf/ then there is a Metal Filter Adapter which is much better than the plastic Canon one at Lensmate! I have added 3 metal filter tubes, one with a B+W Polarizer, one for add on IR filters (currently a 850nm and a 1000nm) and one dedicated to the Raynox 0.7x wide angle converter with a dedicated 82mm B+W polarizing filter (full time). The wide angle adapter is super sharp and converts the G9 lens to 24mm at its widest. I find that I actually use this lens most of the time. The Raynox can also be purchased at Lensmate. I have found that there are no lens flairs with this combination at all.

There are a lot of accessories for the Canon G9. The 2 shown here (left and right) are from Richard Franiec Accessories and will make the camera much easier to operate and handle! I highly recommend these add-ons and you can go directly to his web site by clicking on the images! The most useful is the grip add-on shown on the right. I really makes the camera much easier to hold and operate!

Add-on Infrared Filters

For my two Infrared camera systems, I have had a 715nm filter installed internally. This filter gives both good B&W Infrared as well as FAUX Color Infrared. There are times though that I have found that I wished to modify the MOOD of the camera, or how it sees the Infrared world around it. This can be easily done by simply adding another Infrared filter on the LENS of the camera. For a Digital SLR this is difficult to do since it will keep you from being able to compose and focus your camera unless you have one of the Canons that have Live View. BUT for a Point & Shoot this is a very easy fix! Simply place the filter of choice over the end of the lens or accessory filter holder and the camera now sees in the world of the new filter. Remember, the INTERNAL filter limits the low side so adding a 615nm filter to the lens on a camera that has a 715nm filter inside and the camera still sees at 715nm. Now, I have and use several external filters on my Canon G9 but have found a real gem in LDP's XDP Infrared filter. This filter is a dual passband filter. It sees in two segments of the Infrared spectrum, from 750nm to 850nm and somewhere around 450nm. For me the 450nm is unusable since I have a 715nm internal filter. BUT the 750nm to 850nm gives the most intense high contrast B&W Infrared images that I have ever seen. There is a exposure loss of about 2 stops of light but this is easliy overcome with the use of a tripod on less bright days!

Conversion Lenses for the G9 & G10

We are going to be looking at two companies, Canon and Raynox. The filters that I was interested in was a wide angel adapter, a teleconverter and a fisyeye!

Wide Angle

Both Canon and Raynox make high quality wide angle adapters. My requirement was that the adapter be able to have a polarizer filter attachment threads which automatically threw out the Canon. So in the Raynox line the 7000 (below) had the best specs and reviews. It is a .7x adapter which would make a 100mm lens into a 70mm. For the G9 this makes the widest point (35mm) into basically 24mm. The lens does NOT vignette at all and if you attach a THIN polarizer it will at the widest 2 camera settings but still gives very good coverage! I use a B+W Wide angle (thin) polarizer with this lens combination with very good affect and in fact this is the defacto standard lens combination for most of my G9 work!

Teleconverter

As you know the Canon G9 has an internal optical lens that ranges from 35mm to 210. For most of my work this is just fine on the long side. Once in a while I really wished for something longer. After a little research I discovered that the Canon 2.0 Teleconverter had the best specs and reviews. It does NOT have filter rings but I decided that for this lens I would forgo that opting. It is smaller than the Raynix 2025 so I decided on the Canon. It seems quite qood and I will put more information on it as I work with it in the future!

Canon just announced its new 1.4 teleconverter for its G10 Camera system. Of course, as with all of the lens accessories for both the G10 and G9 you must have an accessory adapter (shown below for the G10)

Fisheye

This really is a specialty "play" lens for me. I wish to make some really ultrawide images and play with perspective control within the camera. There are a LOT of companies that offer these lenses, but only ONE that is FULL FRAME! That is the Raynox FE 180 Pro. As you can see from the image to the right it is a BIG piece of glass! I have only taken a few images with this lens so far but they are impressive and I am quite happy with them. As I use this lens more I will add my impressions here!

Canon G10

My newest Infrared system is a Canon G10 Point & Shoot 14.7 megapixel camera. Details about this camera can be seen at:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0809/08091702canon_g10.asp

14.7 Megapixel digital camera for the highest image quality.

High powered 5x Optical Zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer plus a 28mm wide-angle lens gets you up close and personal to your subjects as well as captures more in your frame.

New DIGIC 4 Image Processor improves Face Detection, adds Servo AF, Face Detection Self-Timer and Intelligent Contrast Correction for greater flexibility.

Full range of shooting and recording modes including RAW + JPEG for the ultimate creative control.

Large 3.0-inch PureColor LCD II (460,000 dots/VGA) with even greater true-to-life color reproduction.

A wealth of accessories including optional Speedlite flashes, an underwater housing and a Tele Converter lens.

Print/Share Button for easy direct printing and downloading, plus ID Photo Print and Movie Print with select PIXMA Photo Printers and SELPHY Compact Photo Printers.

The Canon G10 has a remarkable set of controls. They have the look and feel of what you would expect on a DSLR and makes the camera much easier to control. The dedicated Exposure Compensation dial on the top of the camera is really a great addition!

Image quality is simply amazing as long as you follow the rules of P&S CCD cameras: Never shoot over 200 ISO. The reason for this is that any higher and you start to have uncontrollable noise issues in your images. For Infrared, the top ISO that I suggest is 100 and I try to shoot at 80.

The camera has been converted to FULL TIME INFRARED at 715nm which will allow a good cross section of FAUX COLOR as well as B&W Infrared images. It was converted by LDP (maxmax.com) which is where I have had all of my cameras converted. They are a pleasure to work with.

This has to be the BEST Infrared camera system that I have ever used to date! It is small and light weight. It offers a complete line of Olympus and Panasonic inter-changable lenses. It is image stabilized in the BODY and included an ultrasonic sensor cleaning system that works even after its IR conversion! The sensor is a large format sensor with low noise.

The 720 nm conversion gives stunning B&W as well as Faux Color images. I think that the E-P1 will fast become my favorite IR system. It is small enough to carry with me all of the time and has proven to be a fast and sharp focusing system. White balance is a single button adjustment and the images it generates are simply stunning!